Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, Eugene Johnson, has welcomed the intervention of the National Department of Water and Sanitation which has effectively taken over the City's Water Services Directorate.
This was formally announced on Friday by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, who said the programme would be led by the Amatola Water Board.
The Minister's team met Municipal officials in a lengthy meeting where an agreement was eventually hammered out.
"Playing the blame game is not going to help, we need all hands on deck," Johnson said at a media briefing.
"We know this intervention is being done in the spirit of intergovernmental relations. We have agreed as a City that we will cooperate with the Minister and the Amatola Water Board. We will be led by them," she said.
Minister Mchunu said it was agreed that the Department of Water and Sanitation would intervene in Nelson Mandela Bay in terms of Section 63 of the Constitution and other relevant sub-sections and laws.
He said the main reason for this was the looming "crisis of Day Zero", and secondly whether Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality was meeting its responsibilities as a water services authority.
Minister Mchunu said the programme broadly cover three areas, introducing drought mitigation measures, reducing consumption to 50 litres per person per day, and "extending water supply" by continuing to augment supply to the Metro.
Mchunu said some short term measures are expected to be in place by next Wednesday.
“We have been guaranteed by the Mayor and councillors that they will fully cooperate with this intervention and do everything in their power. Management of the Municipality was also on board,” Mchunu said.
"We are very confident we are going to avoid Day Zero through this intervention," he said.
Meanwhile, organised business said it was extremely concerned about the potentially devastating impact which the water crisis may have on Nelson Mandela Bay’s economy and its communities.
“We, therefore, welcome the news that the Department of Water and Sanitation is finally responding to the issue,” said CEO Denise van Huysteen.
“While we know that the Amatola Water Board has had a chequered track record, we will engage with them to ensure that as organised business we can provide strategic inputs related to the immediate crisis and also the longer-term priority of ensuring the security of water supply for Nelson Mandela Bay,” she said.
